Sustainable Development

The UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, and the Common Good

edited by Oliver F. Williams, C.S.C.

Publication Year: 2014

For business to flourish, society must flourish. In today's global economy, business serves the common good not only by producing goods and services but also by reaching out to the many who are not even in the market because they lack marketable skills and the resources to acquire them. Sustainable Development: The UN Millennium Development Goals, the UN Global Compact, and the Common Good contains twenty-two essays that document the work of Western companies, working through the UN Global Compact and its Principles of Responsible Investment and the Principles for Responsible Management Education, to shape more peaceful and just societies. Seven case studies by leading businesses and private-public partnerships—including Microsoft, Merck, Sumitomo Chemical, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Novartis, and Levi Strauss—outline their projects, especially those advancing the MDGs (Millennium Development Goals) designed to alleviate dire poverty. Twelve chapters reflect on some of the conceptual issues involved with the MDGs, and the three concluding essays examine the future of the UN Global Compact, of the Millennium Development Goals, and of the role of business enterprise in society.

Cover

Title Page, Copyright Page

Contents

Foreword

As the introduction to this volume states, “There is an astounding
gap in wealth and income throughout the world. While some poor
countries have become prosperous, in many nations poverty and inequalities
have deepened, especially in Africa. Today there are more...

Introduction

Sustainability can mean all things to all persons, and many organizations
are working hard to figure out what it means for them and
how to implement it. The term is often used as a synonym for corporate
social responsibility (CSR), corporate responsibility, and corporate...

Part I: Business and the Millennium Development Goals

1. The Role of Business in Society: The Microsoft Vision

People everywhere—from corporate board rooms to the halls of academia
to the corner café—agree that corporations are obliged to fulfill
certain responsibilities in the course of doing business, but that is often
where the agreement ends. It is not easy to reach a consensus on exactly...

2. A Public and Private Partnership: The ACHAP Experience in Botswana

HIV/AIDS is one of the greatest threats to development for African
countries, particularly those in southern Africa, where Botswana is
located. HIV/AIDS is acknowledged as Botswana’s greatest health and
development challenge. Thus, dealing aggressively with HIV/AIDS and...

3. Sumitomo Chemical and the Millennium Development Goals

The Sumitomo Chemical Group includes over one hundred subsidiaries
and affiliates, operates businesses in five sectors (basic chemicals,
petrochemicals, IT-related
chemicals, health and crop sciences,
and pharmaceuticals), and provides products worldwide that support...

4. Doing Well by Doing Good—The Nestlé Way

Good food, good life is what Nestlé is all about. As the world’s leading
nutrition, health, and wellness company, Nestlé has a long history
of providing quality products supported by an expertise in nutrition,
health, and wellness, and it is the largest private funder of nutrition...

5. Coca-Cola and Society

The Coca-Cola story is one that spans over a century, includes
more than two hundred countries across the globe, and touches at least
1.7 billion people every day. In 2010, Coca-Cola’s 139,600 employees
helped generate over $35 billion dollars in revenue. As companies grow...

6. Achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals

Novartis has been contributing to the realization of the UN Millennium
Development Goals since their launch in 2000. First and foremost,
Novartis contributes through its core business—the discovery,
development, and marketing of innovative drugs, helping to save millions...

7. How Global Employers Can Address HIV/AIDS

The global epidemic of HIV/AIDS, first identified in the early
1980s, initially provoked fear and avoidance, but later, extensive research,
public health campaigns, and treatment regimens that became
available to a growing proportion of the victims of this disease. Slowly...

Part II: Scholarship Advancing the Role of Business in Society

8. Some Ethical Explications of the UN Framework for Business and Human Rights

The UN “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework, proposed in
2008, arguably provides a thoughtful and solid structure on which the
debate and action on business and human rights can be built. However,
its ethical implications are barely articulated. This essay attempts to...

9. The United Nations Global Compact and Human Rights

My remarks concern the human rights principles of the United
Nations Global Compact. Principles 1 and 2 are as follows:
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of
internationally proclaimed human rights; and
Principle 2: make sure that they are not complicit in human rights...

10. Integrative Social Contracts Theory and the UN Global Compact

In an era of political correctness and sophisticated communication,
it would be unexpected to find any corporation today that would openly
support the views expressed by Milton Friedman. In his famous article
that was originally published in the New York Times Sunday Magazine...

11. The MDGs, Partnering for Results

This brief essay will give an overview from a government perspective
on “partnering to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.” I
plan to do three things:
First, to set out our perspectives on the September 2010 UN Millennium
Development Goals Summit and how the United Kingdom...

12. Business-NGO Collaboration on Peace Building

Contemporary conflicts create significant challenges for meeting
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Since the end of the
Cold War, most armed conflicts have been civil wars, in many cases involving
influence or resources from neighboring states.1 These conflicts...

13. Putting Reputation at Risk

Wise managers know they must invest in structures that will grow and
protect their corporate reputation. They understand that corporate
reputation—apart from brand and product reputation—is a manageable
strategic asset. Those managers also know that, on very little notice...

14. The UN Global Compact

In the spring of 2000, business, labor, and civil society leaders
joined with United Nations representatives to develop a framework to
serve Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s 1999 call at the World Economic
Forum in Davos, Switzerland: “I call on you—individually through your...

15. Pursuing Purposeful Profit

After observing business from both a business executive suite and
the halls of Congress, both in America and around the world, I am
convinced that the greatest untapped profit opportunity available to
businesses today is having a purpose that benefits both society and the...

16.: Employee Engagement through Social and Environmental Responsibility

Employee Social and Environmental Responsibility
Studies in the last decade of the work force in the United States
painted a very bleak picture. Only 29 percent of the workforce was engaged,1 and an estimated $300 billion was lost per year in the United
States due to decrease in productivity from disengaged employees2—....

17. A Nonprofit Sector Perspective of the United Nations Global Compact and Millennium Goals

The primary function of the economy involves the creation of
wealth. For most people, this statement is a given. Most of the essays in
this book either attempt to demonstrate or else assume that the economy
can fulfill this important function while at the same time accomplishing...

18. Millennium Development Goals, Business Planning, and the UN Global Compact Management Model

Preserving a livable planet and reducing global poverty are essential
not only for sustaining vigorous markets but also for the future stability
of the world. Moreover, it is essential for a business firm to plan
for future products and markets. Thus the United Nations has invited...

19. Do The Principles of Responsible Management Education Matter?

Dominican University is a private, Catholic university located in
River Forest, Illinois, ten miles west of the Chicago Loop. With an
enrollment of nearly 3,800 students—about half of whom are graduate
students—it offers bachelor’s degrees in more than fifty areas of...

Part III: Where Do We Go From Here?

20. The Future of the United Nations Global Compact

Since the founding of the United Nations Global Compact in
2000, many have admired its perseverance and effectiveness in engaging
corporations and their leaders in the pursuit of global economic and
social development. The ten principles of the Global Compact summarize...

21. Beyond Corporate Responsibility to the Common Good

The breadth and depth of the issues that abound in the world suggest
that they are systemic, and must be dealt with by seeking root causes
and fundamental issues. Corporate responsibility measures—which
generally accept the system as given—will not get us to the systemic...

22. Advancing Human Rights in Developing Countries

Each of the companies profiled in this volume discusses how they
are advancing human rights in accordance with the UN Millennium
Development Goals. The question often arises as to whether a company
should take on some of the problems of the wider society out of a sense...

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